McGuire selected to coach Shrine Bowl

[MrTitleist]

From the Northern Wyoming Daily News:


McGuire selected to head up Shrine Bowl

BASIN — In just his second year at the helm of the Riverside Rebels, 2A head football coach Michael McGuire was selected to head up the north team for the 2008 Shrine Bowl.

McGuire, who joined Riverside in 2006, has led his Rebels to a record of 19-3, including back-to-back appearances in the state championship game, which the team won in November.

“It’s very humbling to be chosen by your peers,” McGuire said. “I’m really excited about the opportunity.”

The football game, played between teams from the north and south, is an annual fundraiser held each year to raise money for the Shriner’s Hospitals for Children.

McGuire, a graduate of Greybull High School, became an assistant coach for the Greybull Buffs after college, before taking a job as an assistant coach for Fort Hays State University in Fort Hays, Kan. He was there for four years before taking the job at Riverside High School, in place of Terry Hopkin in the summer of 2006.

The Rebels immediately showed promise, as the senior strong team traveled through the season undefeated. They made it to the 2A state championship, for the first time in the school’s history, where they hosted Southeast, falling just short of the title in an 8-6 loss.

But this year the team would not be denied. They lost two games during the regular season, one in overtime to Big Horn, and the other to 3A Kemmerer.

In the 2A playoffs, the Rebels won a close one with Sundance, 17-15 in the first round. Then they traveled over four hours to Niobrara County, where they snuck out a 10-9 win over Lusk. The win took the Rebels to the championship, where they would rematch the Rams, in Big Horn. The game was similar to the first two rounds in scoring, but the Rebels won 21-20, receiving their first state trophy.

“I feel very blessed to have been able to coach such wonderful kids,” McGuire said of the year. “They worked hard and had a goal in mind and I was really happy to have gotten to see them accomplish that. Everything we accomplished was because of them.”

McGuire was announced Wednesday to head up the North team. The south will be coached by Kemmerer’s Shawn Rogers. McGuire said that both coaches now have the task of selecting their assistants. Each class of football, 1A-5A will be represented on the coaching staff. Once selected, the coaches will then begin the process of selecting players for the game from the list of nominations.

The 2008 Shrine Bowl is scheduled to take place at Natrona County High School in Casper June 14 at 7 p.m.